May 11, 2010

An Ode to Irving at 92Y, a {NewNew} Photo Montage

American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Irving made his 10th appearance at the Poetry Center of the 92nd Street YMCA last week. After reading from a new work-in-progress, Irving answered questions from the audience and offered signed copies of his most recent novel, published in the fall, Last Night in Twisted River.

To celebrate Irving's appearance on {NewNew} turf, I have created a photo montage of {NewNew} products that relate (however loosely) to his work.

Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978. Garp, like A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Widow for One Year, are setaround Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. So, too, are these New Hampshire-inspired earrings by {NewNew} member MilkMade.

These classy red and brown milk caps from the H. F. Morrill Dairy in Concord, New Hampshire are, like all MilkMade earrings, made from vintage, unused cardboard milk bottle caps that have been covered with a non-toxic sealant.

Some of Irving's novels, such as The Cider House Rules, A Widow for One Year and A Prayer for Owen Meany, have been bestsellers and many have been made into movies. Irving won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1999 for The Cider House Rules. Perhaps this films was seen by the little movie-going monsters in myzoetrope’s watercolor illustration Monster Theater.

5” x 7" signed and dated print on Epson Velvet Fine Art paper (similar to watercolor paper). The colors print quite rich and reproduce the detail and subtlety of watercolors very well. Shipped with care in a bend-proof mailer.

"Nothing in life is easy for Irving's characters," wrote the Canadian author Robertson Davies. "In his novels the still, sad music of humanity rises to the orgasmic uproar of a rock band." It is true, too, that nothing comes easy for the young woman in this photograph by ApertureAgog. Titled Lady Lightening and taken in Williamsburg, the juxtaposition of the two graffiti pieces plays like pop art in film noir. Sadly, this graffiti is now gone. We have to give up this street art much like a well loved character in a recently finished book! The memory remains, however, and those characters travel with us, just like the graffiti in ApertureAgog'sphoto. Thanks to this {NewNew} artist, the photo remains to commemorate the street art, just as a book remains to retell a favorite story.

John Irving participated in the wrestling program at his boarding school both as an athlete and, later, as an assistant coach. He often features wrestling prominently in his novels. Below, you will find a unique and whimsical pouch by lapistolera featuring an iron on print of a Mexican wrestler. This photo is an original piece of art in and of itself and was taken by the artist during a trip to Mexico.

This small bag had so many uses! You name it, this pouch delivers! Coins for laundry, check!, a lipstick tote, check!, a mini first aid kit, check!

The Cider House Rules, a 1985 novel by Irving, follows Homer Wells, an orphan who works in an apple orchard in Maine. {NewNew} artist ardent1 has an Apple Seed Ring that reminds me of all things apple!

Available in sizes 6, 7.25, or 8.25. Height is 1 cm. This is the first ring ardent1 made. She stitched apple seeds together and cast them. She was thinking about having a child and wanted to meditate on seeds and fertility of all kinds. Price is for silver, also available in gold.

Apples, of course, are the best place to end our discussion of Irving! He wrote about apples and visited the Big Apple on Monday. The {NewNew} is a group of artists living in or around that very apple (the New York metro area). Thanks for visiting Mr. Irving! Next time, take a piece of New York home with you by purchasing a handmade souvenir!